Apocalypse King: Recruiting S-Tier Beauties With My Ruler System
Chapter 160: The First Quiet Morning

Chapter 160: The First Quiet Morning

March 21st, 6:08 AM — Longwan Mall, Service Wing

John Wang POV

—

It was the sound of quiet movement that woke me.

Soft feet brushing across concrete. A kettle lid clinking open. Someone yawned into their sleeve. Nothing sharp or frantic.

But somehow, with everyone still alive, the air filtered clean, and a sheep drooling into my chest—

I stared at the ceiling, blinking.

First full night I’d slept in... what? Four? Five days?

I didn’t mind.

Just... calm.

I blinked against the dim blue light of the air scrubber still humming in the corner.

It took me a second to notice I wasn’t cold.

Or alone.

A comfortable warmth pressed against my right side—something soft and breathing slow. My arm had gone numb. My chest felt sticky.

Then I noticed the weight. The arms looped tightly around my waist. The tickle of hair against my chin.

And the drool.

Liang Mei lay curled beside me, wrapped in the same blanket, her face nuzzled against my shirt with her mouth half open. A small wet patch spread across the fabric beneath her cheek. Every few seconds, she mumbled something unintelligible—half dream, half mumble—before shifting closer, sighing.

I didn’t move.

Didn’t have the heart.

It was the first time I’d slept through the night in... I couldn’t remember.

My muscles weren’t tight. My head didn’t ache. My breathing felt easy.

I let my eyes close for another ten seconds.

Then gently nudged her.

Her brows pinched, and she mumbled something that sounded like "just five more..."

"Mei," I said softly.

She blinked awake, confused for a second, then realised exactly where she was.

And what she was doing.

"Oh my god," she whispered, eyes wide. "I—I didn’t—uh..."

"You drooled on me."

"I did not!"

I looked down at the spreading stain.

She followed my eyes and groaned, covering her face with both hands. "I want to die."

"I’ve had worse things on me."

She peeked between her fingers. "You’re not mad?"

"Not unless you try to wipe it with your sleeve."

She scrambled back, flustered, nearly rolling out of the blanket. "I’ll—I’ll clean it! I didn’t mean to—"

"You fell asleep," I said simply. "It’s fine."

Liang Mei bit her lip and nodded quickly, cheeks still flushed, before grabbing a clean cloth from her bag and muttering about water.

Across the room, others were stirring.

Zhou Xue was brushing her hair, still half asleep and wrapped in her blanket. Chen Xun yawned while cross-legged, stretching his arms and cracking his neck with a grunt. Deng Hua leaned against a crate, still blinking sleep from his eyes.

Then the two men started kicking each other and fighting.

Jiang Roulan stood quietly near the vent, examining the concrete seal like it might open again. But when she noticed my gaze, she frowned, narrowed her eyes and turned away with a strange reaction.

Tang Wei yawned into her fist and gave me a nod. "You’re up."

"Yeah."

"Sleep well?"

"Surprisingly."

She glanced at the still-purring air unit, then at the others. "We’ve got some daylight. I want us moving soon."

"Agreed."

Breakfast was quiet.

No decent food—just heated nutrient blocks, boiled water, and the leftover broth Tang Wei had reboiled from the night before. It tasted like salted fish and spongy mushroom, but it was warm, and no one complained.

The MREs that I brought from my apartment started running out, and I became a little sad; I might never see them again.

A memory of my past self that would fade with this horrific world.

’Even if the system offers replica’s...’

Although I could have brought out the cooking of Jiang Roulan or Shen Yifei from the base, I didn’t want to rely on the system too much during missions.

How would they survive without me?

Could they still deal with situations where I can’t create things?

I was their leader now, not just a simple businessman.

Liang Qiu passed out rations with the same expression she always wore: silent, focused. She gave me two. Probably thought I needed them more than most.

I handed one to Qinglan, who still hadn’t spoken since last night.

At first, I thought that Mu Qinglan was angry, but then I noticed her swollen lips and throat... she looked at me before her cheeks turned red, and she flicked her face away, looking in the other direction.

It seemed... I was a little too rough.

Roulan ate beside Liang Mei, unusually silent. She didn’t touch her bowl until after everyone else had finished.

Zhou Xue sat against the wall, eating mechanically, while Deng Hua leaned back and rubbed his burned arm through his sleeve. The skin looked better, scabbed, tight, but not infected.

"Do we have a direction?" Chen Xun finally asked.

Tang Wei nodded. "They headed north and northwest after the blast. John, can you still track them?"

"Interference’s still active," I said. "But I’ve got the map cached from last night. I know the most likely routes."

Yifei shifted. "Then we sweep those sectors?"

"We don’t split up," I said. "We move as one group. Tight formation. They’re faster than we are, smarter than zombies. We don’t get a second chance."

Everyone nodded—some more reluctantly than others.

I stood and walked over to the purifier unit.

Its glow was steady. It had done its job, silently scrubbing and recycling air for hours. But we couldn’t afford to leave something this valuable behind.

[System: Storage Command — Environmental Purification Unit][Storage: Confirmed][Durability: 100%][Status: Ready for redeployment]

The unit blinked once, then shimmered before vanishing in a smooth flash of light. Gone.

I exhaled.

We’d need more of them. Bigger ones. Systems that could purify an entire base, even if something worse than Ghouls came knocking.

Radiation. Toxic rain. Smoke. Disease.

If we were going to survive long-term, we needed more than strength.

We needed infrastructure.

There was something ritualistic about gearing up.

Gear was strapped down. Weapons loaded. Comms checked. Everyone moved with that sluggish quiet you only saw after a long fight and a short rest.

No one was talking much anymore.

The tension hadn’t returned, but the focus had.

Tang Wei finished checking Deng Hua’s straps and gave me a look. "You sure they’ll come back to this area?"

"No," I said. "But they’re smart. They’ll circle the area, track us and then wait.

"Then we catch them before they do."

I nodded.

Tang Wei injected herself with insulin before she broke the silence. "Two minutes. Final checks."

Zhou Xue tightened her boots.

Chen Xun sorted his arrows again, fingers trembling just slightly as he touched each fletch.

Yifei remained quiet and watched me before taking up her spear and standing beside the door like she was already ahead of us.

Liang Mei slid beside me, holding her hunting bow a little too tight. She didn’t meet my eyes, but her hand brushed against mine when she passed. Not intentional.

"You ready?" I asked.

She looked up, eyes clearer than I expected. "Yeah. I’m not scared anymore."

Clearly a lie—but that was fine.

Everyone lies a little before a fight.

I glanced over.

Her cheeks were red again.

"Stay close to Roulan," I said. "And only shoot if you’re steady."

"I know," she mumbled.

Chen Xun strung his bow and gave Zhou Xue a nod. Yifei checked the vents again—habitually. And Roulan... she looked different. Still quiet, but lighter somehow. Like she’d stopped punishing herself for something only she knew.

I walked last, scanning the walls and exits, the empty shelves, the ceiling.

No sound.

No whispers.

No more voices in the vents.

The concrete seal was still dry, clean, and unbroken.

That was good.

Because even if they were watching and waiting, we would lose all of our advantage, and it would end like yesterday.

We were ready this time.

And I wouldn’t let them crawl in through the cracks again.

I turned toward the exit and activated the map overlay in my vision.

Red markings still flickered—ghost traces of the Ghouls’ last known paths. The system hadn’t locked new coordinates yet, but I could feel the pull in my chest. Those things hadn’t gone far and were waiting.

Watching.

Just like last time.

This time, I wouldn’t be the one reacting.

This time, I’d be ready.

"We find them," I said. "And this time, they don’t get to crawl away."

Mu Qinglan’s eyes shone light blue as she held Endless night, and watched me with a keen gaze, before we opened the doors.